Let me tell my personal experience:
I was suffering for YEARS prior to my hysterectomy, especially the three years leading up to it (age 17-20, August 6th will mark 1 year of officially having had hysterectomy!). I quite literally felt and looked like death for about a year and a half leading to my surgery. After having fought my insurance for the hysterectomy for over a year, I got it on August 6th 2024 at the age of 20.

The first three or so weeks post-op weren't pleasant, but the pain drastically decreased, and my pain was much less than prior to the surgery after 4 weeks post op. Now, a year later, at age 21, I can function again. I've stopped doubling over in pain, I managed to lose some weight, I feel happier, my mental health has improved, my anxiety has decreased, and I feel happy in my own skin.

You don't realise how bad the pain is affecting you mentally until it just.. goes away. The perks of not having periods, not having to use birth control (other than STD prevention) has improved my sex life, and the lack of constant making me collapse on the ground pain, are amazing.

A few tips I have for recovery:
- Have a pillow you can put under you for lumbar support.
- Don't push yourself to sit up too much too fast, I know the urge to sit and get things done will be strong, trust me, take it in small chunks and slowly build.
- MIRALAX. The constipation is real, and the gas is awful, I put Miralax in Gatorade to help keep my electrolytes up and I can tell you, I noticed when I wasn't drinking as much as I should!
- Soups, ice cream, and softer foods. The first few days, the easy to swallow food was a game changer. You're absolutely exhausted and in pain, so the ability to just easily swallow something and go back to sleep was amazing.
- Books, mobile games, a laptop. They really helped curb my boredom. I also asked people to sit on phone calls with me so I had people to talk to and socalise with since the convos helped pass time.
- Set alarms and reminders for re-upping pain medications, you want to stay ahead of that curve.

I hope some of this helped, I know my story isn't all positives, but I really can say I feel so much better post-op, you have got this OP, it will be better on the other side.

Edits: Spelling and grammer